Environmental Issues: Energy

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Stop Dirty Fuels
Overview

As cheap, plentiful conventional oil becomes a luxury of the past, we now face a choice: to set a course for a more sustainable energy future of clean, renewable fuels, or to develop ever-dirtier sources of transportation fuel derived from fossil fuels -- at an even greater cost to our health and environment. Looking for fuel in all the wrong places puts wildlands, air, water and climate at risk.

Hybrid Values
Find out what makes a hybrid such a good buy, and learn what’s on the market.
Guide

If you're thinking of buying a hybrid, you’re looking at a range of high-tech cars that get great gas mileage, cut polluting emissions and earn you a tax break. Find out what makes a hybrid such a good buy, and learn what’s on the market.

Picking a Clean Energy Plan
NRDC's Plug-In Alternative is More Efficient than the Pickens Plan
Fact Sheet

From oil price volatility to global warming and national security concerns, it is clear that our current reliance on oil is unsustainable. Even oil industry veteran T. Boone Pickens has proposed a plan (the “Pickens Plan”) to rapidly reduce oil dependency by increasing wind power and using natural gas to power vehicles. NRDC agrees with the urgency behind the Pickens Plan and supports the broad expansion of clean, renewable electricity. But the Pickens Plan does not contemplate the full range of options. We believe that pursuing the best outcome rather than preselected technologies will reveal more effective ways to put our natural gas resources to work. As one example, we examine here an alternative proposal, “The Plug-in Alternative,” that would get the most mileage out of our renewable and clean-burning energy sources while sharply reducing our dependence on dirtier sources like oil and coal. Get document in pdf.

Plug In for a Greener Future
A new breed of hybrid cars could play a big role in cutting global warming pollution.
Overview

The plug-in hybrid -- a new breed of hybrid that relies more heavily on electricity than gas -- uses bigger, longer-lasting hybrid batteries that can charge overnight on your home's electricity and power cars for up to 40 miles at one go.

The Next Generation of Hybrid Cars
Plug-in Hybrids Can Help Reduce Global Warming and Slash Oil Dependency
Fact Sheet

Plug-in hybrid vehicles are the next new technology that can help Americans use less gas at the pump. Get document in pdf.

Driving It Home: Choosing the Right Path for Fueling North America's Transportation Future
Choosing the Right Path for Fueling North America's Transportation Future
Report

North America faces an energy crossroads. With the world fast approaching the end of cheap, plentiful conventional oil, we must choose between developing ever-dirtier sources of fossil fuels -- at great cost to our health and environment -- or setting a course for a more sustainable energy future of clean, renewable fuels.

Comments on CARB's Regulations to Control Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Motor Vehicles
Comments

Official comments from NRDC's global warming and clean-cars experts on the draft regulations for implementation of AB 1493, California's landmark law requiring automakers to reduce heat-trapping exhaust from new vehicles by about 30 percent over the next decade.

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